World Artisan Gems

Name:  Lindsey Bucklew

Website Link:    www.klewism.com      www.klewism.etsy.com

Katie's Necklace

Tell us a bit about yourself: I’m an extreme example of the ‘left-handed’ person with ‘right-brain’ hemisphere dominance.  I love asymmetry in nature  and labyrinthine detail with no easily discernible organization.  I’m captivated by animals, music, audio books, and ancient history.  I collect trinkets with sentimental or visual  interest and often use them, perhaps years later, in a painting, collage, or piece of jewelry.  I gravitate towards anything fantastic or eccentric, over the structured and streamlined.

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

When did you start designing jewelry/art? I’ve been creating things since early childhood.  I come from an artistically inclined family, so drawing, painting, & embellishing were natural pastimes.  Jewelry is a new love.  I started working with wire in 2006, because I wanted to wear jewelry I made myself with elements meaningful to me.  When I started working with wire, and realized the expressive capacity of the medium, I couldn’t get enough!    I was seduced by the tactile pleasure of making wire jewelry from then on. 

What do you make?  I make extremely intricate, one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art.

What materials and methods do you use? I use just about anything in my jewelry:  wire, buttons, beads, rhinestones, screws, nuts, bolts, bones, shells, vintage jewelry fragments, buckles, drawer handles, photos, paintings, fresh water pearls, needles, and semi-precious stones. Then the jewelry just “happens.”  I just start working and the piece evolves organically as I go.  It’s a stream-of-consciousness process that I really only try to analyze in retrospect.  I call it creative improvisation.

Stacey's ring

Where do your design inspirations come from? I’m inspired by the natural world, especially the details.  The infinite network of wrinkles and ridges on human skin, the endless variations in pattern and texture on the bark of a tree, the fur of an animal, the contours of a seashell…  I’m transfixed by the simultaneously harmonious and distinctive qualities of ‘ordinary’ outside objects:  the paradox that obvious repetitive patterns are always full of anomalies,

What is your best working environment/where is your studio?  My favorite studio space was in a large derelict basement.  It looked like it could be haunted.  The concrete floor was uneven and cracked.  It flooded when there was a heavy rain, and there would be ‘lakes’ in the depressed concrete for several days thereafter.  But I always had privacy, the freedom to decorate the environment crazily, and plenty of room to work on many projects at once. 
Now I have a smaller, less eccentric work place, but the magic still happens.

Sea sculpture

Where can your products be seen?  My Website, Etsy shop, and Flickr photos

Tell us  a little about one of your favorite creations: The “Helen of Troy” necklace is one of the most labour intensive pieces I’ve ever constructed.  I always listen to audio books while I make jewelry, and I got through “Anna Karenina,” “A Tale of Two Cities,” and “War and Peace” (all unabridged recordings, of course) before I finished. That means that it took well over 100 solid work hours to make.  It was the first time I made anything so intricate.  It’s exciting to see the reactions of women who try on the necklace. Often a woman will be in the middle of a sentence to the effect of “I tend to be a minimalist in terms of accessories,” only to pause, gasp, and stare at herself in the mirror for several seconds as if she just saw herself as a goddess, and then to say “with a simple black dress, this would be stunning…”

Helen of Troy